If you have been reading my miniseries on the shenanigans of abusive parents beating their children to musical stardom, this little story will probably restore your faith in humankind. I am talking about the pianist, violinist and composer Alma Elizabeth

It is often a great mystery what people, works, and instruments remain in the minds of those who enjoy classical music. Even in the very small world of saxophonists, there are certain legends which take hold and others which fall

Bringing Bach to the 20th century was the fame of Swiss pianist Edwin Fischer (1886-1960). After first studying music in Basel, Switzerland, he went on to attend the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, where he studied with Martin Krause, one of

Olivier Messiaen’s eight Preludes for piano were published in 1929, the year he won the first prize for composition at the Paris Conservatoire. Debussy’s own Preludes were less than twenty years old at the time, and the influence of these

Lucette Descaves (1906-1993) was a student of Marguerite Long’s at the Paris Conservatoire, her students, in turn, were equally distinguished, including the young Michel Legrand, and, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Pascal Rogé, and Katia and Marielle Labèque. After she retired from the

French pianist Gaby Casadesus (1901-1999), like her husband, Robert Casadesus, studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Marguerite Long and was awarded the first prize in piano at age 16. Also like her husband, she knew the best composers of the

Andrei Gavrilov was a teenage superstar of the Soviet Union! In 1974, aged 18, he won the prestigious Tchaikovsky piano competition, and in the same year made his triumphant international debut at the Salzburg Festival. A protégé of the extraordinary

As with many pianists from France, Jean Doyen (1907-1982) attended the Paris Conservatoire, ending up as a student of Marguerite Long. He made his solo debut in 1924, but returned to the Conservatoire in 1926 for lessons in counterpoint and